Showing posts with label Florida. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Florida. Show all posts

Thursday, October 22, 2020

The 2020 Patchwork Season Comes To A Strong, Yet Shortened 14 Race End In St. Pete

Astor Cup ... the grand prize - Image Credit: Karl Zemlin- via NICS (2020)

The 2020 Patchwork Season Comes To A Strong, Yet Shortened 14 Race End In St. Pete

After 1,800 laps over the course of 13 races, the 2020 NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship comes down to a battle between Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden. The two championship protagonists will be the center of this weekend’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and here are their thoughts before taking to the track this weekend to end the story of the Wuhan Red Death/COVID-19 shaded first season of a Roger Penske owned NTT INDYCAR SERIES for 2020.

The one thing that has come out during this unique and uncertain patchwork of a season that had no West Coast swing, the racing at INDYCAR is strong and vibrant and did not succumb to the virus event visited upon us by China.

NTT IndyCar Series News Conference - Wednesday, October 21, 2020 - Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

Scott Dixon - Chip Ganassi Racing

Josef Newgarden - Team Penske

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the NTT INDYCAR Series video conference. It is our last race of the season and we are joined by our two title contenders today, Scott Dixon drives the No. 9 for Chip Ganassi Racing, and Josef Newgarden, who drives the No. 1 for Team Penske.

As we head into the weekend, it is the 15th consecutive season that the battle for the Astor Challenge Cup will be decided in the final race. It will also be the first time that it has been decided at St. Pete, which is exciting. There are over 19,872 different scoring possibilities for both title contenders.

With that we'll get started Josef, between you and the trophy, what is your mindset going into the weekend?

SCOTT DIXON: I think it's only fair that Josef lets us lead the whole season (smiling).

I don't know. For us, we try to typically keep it pretty simple. I would say that was not the case for the last few races, which got us into a bit of a tailspin. Josef and Team Penske, him and his teammates, have been doing a fantastic job.

For us, it's just to have a pretty simple weekend, try to keep it clean. Obviously the goal is to go for a win. That makes it a lot easier, then you don't have to worry about any of the scenarios. As you mentioned, there's many different scenarios. I think we're still lucky to be in the situation that we are, the points lead that we do have.

As we all know, that doesn't guarantee you anything. NTT INDYCAR Series is renowned for throwing some curves in situations like this. It's always exciting. We tried to stop it going down to the last race, as you mentioned, it was a 15-year run, but we came up short.

Yeah, just looking forward to the weekend. Can't wait to get to St. Pete. Looking forward to getting on a street course, we haven't done one all year. Hopefully it goes well.

Josef Newgarden has a tall order in front of him along with Team Penske, but if Scott Dixon has a DNF kind of a day, and Newgarden finishes on the podium, this strange season may have an unbelievable storybook ending. Image Credit: NICS (2020)

THE MODERATOR: Josef, you have three wins on the season. You are tied for top fives, but you have actually won the last time we were in St. Pete, which is something that Scott hasn't been able to do yet. Tell us about your mindset going into the weekend.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I think similar to Scott, we're excited to get back to a street course. It's been a while. We haven't been able to do that yet this year. That's going to be a change-up for the entire field with the new Aeroscreen.

Feeling good. Ready to go. Just had a great call with everybody a couple hours ago. I feel like we're definitely prepped and ready to rock for the weekend. Just going there to try to win the race. That's really all I can do.

I love on the fact sheet, I saw this put out, it was like 20,000 scenarios, 1% of the scenarios means we can win the championship. You're saying there's a chance and that's all we need.

Yeah, I don't know, it's going to be an exciting weekend. We'll see how it shakes out. We're just going to go into our thing, see where everything lands at the end of it.

THE MODERATOR: It's funny you mention that. Before we put it out the other day, I said, Do we really want to put 1% on there? I was told that looked better than the actual amount of chances you have. We were trying to help you out on that.

You're right, there's a chance, anything could happen, this is why we race, right? Anything can happen.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I like how the 1% looked better than the number you could have put up (laughter).

SCOTT DIXON: I think it looks better, right?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It is what it is.

THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions.

Q. Tell me how excited are you for the race this weekend, that we're actually getting to go to St. Pete, but also we're going to have fans there as well. Scott, talk to me a little bit about your season, where your mind is at going into the race this weekend.

SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, I think honestly we've had a pretty good season. We've had some mis-steps here and there, which I think most teams do during the year. I made a pretty big mistake at Mid-Ohio which I think, had I not spun, I think it would have been a different scenario going into the last race.

I think these adversities, obviously the ups and downs throughout the season, is what makes INDYCAR racing. You see these runaways, then you see them get caught. The situations always come down to the wire, which is typical and great to see I think for the sport and for the fans, for everybody involved.

Yeah, I think more importantly just super excited to get to St. Pete. I think how all of us started the season loading into St. Pete, getting ready, ready to go, then waking up on Friday saying, You probably need to book a flight to go home.

Nice to end it in full circle and go back to St. Pete this year. Massive thanks to everybody in St. Petersburg, the mayor, Kim Green, Savoree to get this back on, have this race prepped. Obviously Florida for allowing us to have fans at the race, which I think doing some different series, it's been interesting to see how each state has kind of laid this out.

We're in a great situation with the series. I guess a big thanks to Roger and everybody, NTT INDYCAR Series, because the season for a lot of us, we weren't sure we were going to be able to continue. Cool to end it the way we are with the championship going down to St. Pete.

I think everybody at Ganassi feels steadily confident and ready to go racing. I've always wanted to win at St. Pete, so hopefully maybe this is the year. We'll see.

Q. Josef, same question.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I'm excited, just like Scott. It's kind of fitting that we come full circle this with. It was odd to be there at the beginning of the year when everything fell apart, not just in INDYCAR but the world really. To be able to finally come back and run the race is great. To have some fans there is fantastic. Hopefully have a little bit of energy.

It's obviously different having the fans, the way they're able to be into the track, social distancing, masks, all that. It's going to be a different energy, but somewhat to have energy back is really pleasing to see.

Great effort by everybody. Like Scott mentioned, a lot of people to put this together the whole year without knowing we were going to have that. Just thankful we're able to go back there and race this season. I think it's going to be a really fun time in October. It's a different ending for us than we've seen in INDYCAR.

We're all pumped. Team is ready. Feel good. We'll go to try to have a great weekend.

Q. What are your thoughts on an Aeroscreen on a street course for the first time?

SCOTT DIXON: I don't know. I don't know what to tell you. It's the first time for it. It's done a great job first season, the conditions we've had in different situations. We didn't get the full rain situation, which I think a lot of us expected throughout the season at some point.

Yeah, I don't know. Maybe the depth perception maybe a little altered depending on the walls, where there's placed. Honestly, this year it's been very good in every situation. Touch wood that there's no issue there.

I think looking at the weather, it could be a hot weekend. I think we're looking at mid 80s. Typically pretty humid down there. The only time we've had weather like that was the first race, Indy road course, where it was very hot in the car. They've made changes to the car since then as well.

I don't see it being any issue. Hasn't been through rest of the season, so should be all good.

Q. Can you tell me what the remember about being in St. Pete the first time, anything that stood out in that weird period of you thought you were going to race, then you weren't going to race? Also, if you could talk about what this season has felt like, some fans, no fans, canceled events, et cetera.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It's been a tough year. Showing up to the racetrack in the conditions that we've seen this year, it's hard. I think just from an event standpoint, you don't have the energy of the fans and the crowd. That's really what makes INDYCAR racing what it is. I think it makes sport what it is.

It's fantastic, we have an amazing partner in NBC. To be able to showcase the events still through broadcast is great. The atmosphere at the track has been, yeah, I think tough in a lot of ways. Hopefully we can continue to work back to our old normal. I think you need that in sport. You got to have that energy to feed off for everybody, make it what it is.

Earlier in the year at St. Pete, it was an odd lead-up to the event. You have so much buildup over four or five months for the season to kick off, you always want to have a good first weekend. There's a lot of pressure and anxiety, some nerves going into that first event.

I just remember when the NBA postponed, I don't even remember how they announced it, I think they said they were canceling the season. As soon as that happened, people were speculating there's no way we're going to run this weekend. You saw the trickle-down effect from everywhere in the country. Didn't take long for everything else to follow suit.

It was just a strange time to be involved in.

SCOTT DIXON: All I remember was having lunch with you. That's all I remember about that whole weekend. I think Dario paid for the check, which is unusual for a Scotsman, so that was good (smiling).

Just how the whole weekend evolved. Josef and I did the charity thing, the go-kart thing on Wednesday night. I was actually on the mayor's team. He was telling me everything was going to be fine. That's how quickly things change. That was Wednesday night.

Thursday it kind of evolved a little bit more. I think I remember seeing Savoree Friday morning having breakfast. He was thinking within the hour he was going to get a message saying we were all going home. Obviously it changed pretty quickly. Extremely unfortunate. Crazy for a lot of people as we've all touched on many times throughout the season.

Just to touch on what Josef said about the atmosphere, I think a lot of us thrive on that. To be able to go back full circle and have fans again at St. Pete I think is going to be really cool.

But, yeah, just the effort that's gone in to make a season and have a season where a lot of people haven't had that opportunity. A lot of categories in motor racing, but other sports have really struggled. A lot of people that have gone into it, partners, quite involved. We're very fortunate and very lucky. Glad we're able to carry on.

Q. Is it a victory for the INDYCAR season to have gotten to a conclusion, almost a full season completed?

SCOTT DIXON: I think so, considering what you see from other sports, maybe how they've had to change so much or not do it at all. I think it's a major victory. To be able to work with NBC, get everything running as they have, to even pull off an Indy 500 with no fans.

It's been such a bizarre year, a year I'll definitely never forget, no one else will really. There will be standout moments you'll reflect on like walking out of Gasoline Alley on race day and seeing nobody. A polarization of what's normal.

Again, we have to be thankful for the situation we're in.

Q. Josef, you're inside Team Penske. The effort that's come from Roger to get this season complete, are you surprised by what he's accomplished?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Definitely not surprised at the effort. I don't know anyone in the world that has more energy or enthusiasm than Roger Penske. There's just nothing that's going to stop him when he's leading the charge on something, he's going to maximize everyone's capabilities around him and make the most of the situation.

I think we're all pretty thankful that Roger has been in charge to lead us forward. I think they've done a tremendous job. I'm certainly not surprised to see that. They've done everything possible. They did everything possible to run the 500 with a limited amount of fans.

I think if people knew the energy that was put in, the constant evolution they had to work through. The world was changing every day, every week. They're constantly keeping up with it, trying to make it work, trying to make it work. The same from the INDYCAR Series the entire season. A tremendous amount of effort.

Yeah, not surprised. There's a lot of great people working in the series, certainly at Penske. Thankful we had a year. You'll take this over nothing, without a doubt. Hopefully we can just keep getting better next year onwards.

Q. Scott, you said early year you're hoping going in and try to win this race. When you know it's coming down to one race, knowing you don't have to win and can secure the championship, do you anticipate maybe not going for a pass that you might typically go for normally? Do these circumstances change how you approach this race more than any other race?

SCOTT DIXON: I think you honestly just try to keep it as any other race weekend, which it is. They all pay the same points, apart from Indy this year. I think that's the constant situation when you're in any race, analyzing the situation that you're in, who you're passing.

This weekend may be a little more prominent. Cars that you maybe are having opportunity to pass or not, that you're racing hard, depending even which team they're from. That could alter things.

I think that's typical of any race weekend. Yes, there's a little more on the line with being caught up in an accident, points and situations like that. But I think that is something you deal with every race weekend.

Again, to simplify it, you go as we do every race weekend, to win, not just myself but my teammates and everybody involved. That makes it the most simple. I think when you start to cloud it and make it complicated, then it gets complicated. We'll just try to keep it as simple as possible.

Q. Josef, when you know you have to likely win, when you're going into a race in the end of the season, you're kind of the attacker instead of defender, do you anticipate this race feeling any different? Do you feel freer than you have been in '17 and '19 defending?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I think for us, I don't feel the pressure so much on our end. You probably normally don't when you're pursuing versus trying to hold someone off. I'm surprised we're here, to be honest. It almost makes it more disappointing looking at the year now that we've clawed back to this point. We were in such a deficit, there was such a hill. We've reduced the hill, without a doubt, but it's still a mountain to climb. It's going to be a very hard task for us to try to win the championship.

I don't think there's a ton of pressure. I'm just really proud of what we've come back from this year, some of the adversities we've had to work through. But as far as the approach, answering that specifically, I mean, honestly for us, we don't change our approach. I've never really changed my approach.

When you do start to get yourself in a tough situation is when you start trying to compensate, or if you're trying to play to a certain level or you're trying to drive the car to a certain speed, that's when you can overcomplicate things and create more issues than just trying to go out and maximize the potential of the car.

If we have a fifth-place car on the weekend, you can only force so much. For me, it's all about calculated risks, getting the most out of the weekend. For us, that needs to be a win. If it's not there, I'm not going to take a sixth-place car and try to pass five guys in front of me. I'll probably end up in the wall doing that. I don't see the approach changing for us very much.

Q. Scott McLaughlin, what has been your impression of him in his lead-up to making his debut? What do you anticipate him being able to do?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It's going to be really fascinating to see how he handles this challenge. This is going to be an enormous task for Scott. He's really, really good. We already know that. You could see that a mile away. I think we all admire his strengths around the Super Car side. I think he's a great racer overall, doesn't matter what car you put him in.

As far as INDYCAR specifically this weekend, he doesn't have a lot of time. This is a very abnormal St. Pete weekend. Normally you have three practices, an hour apiece, maybe about two and a half hours total. He'd have an overnight to kind of understand things and make sure to distill it down to useful information for him, review in a longer time period.

He's got to work on the fly. He's never been to this track. He's never really driven the car on a true street circuit. It's an enormous task. If he finishes in the top 10, it's a great weekend. If he finishes in the top five, it's an amazing weekend. Who knows, maybe he goes and wins the race. Very possible for someone like him.

SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, he's damn good. I'm super excited for him. I met him maybe four or five years ago. We had to do an appearance at some event in Auckland city, do autograph sessions. Had to sit around for a long time and chat. This is before he had gone to Team Penske.

Yeah, he's been crushing it obviously down there with his pole record, championship situation. Then for him to have this opportunity, I know he loves America, always wanted to come to America. I think it's really cool to have another Kiwi in the field, which didn't really even seem to be on the radar for quite a few years.

This is a great situation I think for him. It will be an interesting race weekend for him, as Josef touched on. It's definitely stacked against him. As we saw even at the COTA test he was exceptionally quick. I hope it goes well. Looking forward to seeing him. Looking forward to racing with him in the future.

Q. Josef, what do you admire about Scott and what he's done over his career? Scott, what do you admire about Josef, what he's done so far?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I mean, I think for me, I've got a tremendous amount of respect for Scott, without a doubt. He's one of the best that we've seen in the INDYCAR Series. But I think in racing overall. I wouldn't limit it to just our championship. I think he's a world class driver that's very diversified and has an incredible amount of accomplishments over a long period of time.

He's been consistent throughout his whole career. He's just always there. He's very dependable and very capable in any situation, which is why I think he's had such success.

Yeah, I'm happy to compete against him. I want to kick his butt this weekend. I have a tremendous respect for him. If we don't have enough to beat him, we'll shake his hand, his team's hand, say great job, try to beat them next year.

They're one of the toughest to beat, and specifically Scott is one of the toughest to beat because he's so consistent and dependable. I respect that a lot about him. That's a key quality he's had throughout his career.

SCOTT DIXON: The respect is absolutely mutual. We've had a lot of great years so far racing together. As we've already seen, as soon as Josef hit his stride, which was pretty much the first season or second season in INDYCAR racing, he's been a standout. Even from junior categories I remember watching. It's a bummer he was never on our team. I think it would have been a fantastic situation to race with him in a team situation on that level.

As we've seen, Josef is exceptionally good in all areas that INDYCAR throws at you, whether it's the short ovals, superspeedways, to the street and road courses. That's why he's a two-time champion already, and many more to come.

Yeah, excited to race with him as we do every weekend. Hopefully he trips up a little bit this weekend, makes it a little bit easier. We'll see how that goes.

Q. Josef, do you feel there was a certain point in the season when this championship chase really turned in your direction?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I mean, I think you got to look to race two at Gateway, was kind of the final time it came back around to us. This trend has thankfully gone the right way from there. It kind of ebbed and flowed. The first three races were just bad because Scott racked up so many points so quickly, then we kind of were ebbing and flowing for a little while. We'd have a good race, then a weird race. The points would go up and down.

The point where the trend has reversed was Gateway race two. That's what we've been working towards. We're going to try to continue that trend through St. Pete. We need another really good weekend.

Q. Scott, jumping ahead to the 2021 schedule. There's only three ovals on next year's schedule, a couple of new races. What stands out for you about what's coming up for this calendar next year?

SCOTT DIXON: I think the biggest one honestly is the Nashville addition. I think it's been in the works for many years. The layout looks fantastic. Everybody loves that circuit. It's a home race for Josef. I'm super excited about that event. These are the events we need more of.

On the polar opposite side of the that, I'm bummed there's only three ovals. I started in this category in 2003. It was 16 ovals in the series. We definitely need to work hard and trying to get back to that. I was extremely bummed about Iowa. It's not a place I've won at, but it's a track that is complete chaos, very difficult to set the car up. It's exhausting physically. It provides some of our best racing we have all season. Hopefully that can be rectified down the road.

I think we're in desperate need to get some more ovals on the schedule. As we all know, you got to do the venues that work right. Hopefully we see more of those in the future. I know Jay and everybody at the NTT INDYCAR Series are working hard on that.

Yeah, I think Nashville is awesome and hopefully we can get some more races on the schedule here soon.

Q. Can either of you remember how good your street course setups were back in Sebring in February? Are you confident they're strong? Once we learned St. Pete was back on the schedule, when did your teams say, Right, we need to go focus on that again, that's going to be the championship decider?

SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, Sebring test was really good for us. The car was quite good. But it's Sebring. It's a road course. You run a street course tire on it. I think the tire was probably the biggest change that we saw. The 2020 street course tire seemed to have a ton more grip, which does that owe to the difference between the black and the red because we only get to test the blacks. I think everybody will be pretty interested to see how that plays out.

Tire deg could be a real thing for both. Last year the black tire was definitely the preferred tire because the red didn't last. If it's going to be closer, it might not be a tight two stopper, everybody may have to jump to a three stopper.

There's always so many unknowns. I think sometimes Sebring can give you a false sense the security going into St. Pete as we find every year. The only time we found Sebring to be meaningful was when we tested there in July and August. It's really hot. You get into the run of the later street course races throughout the year.

We're trying to apply what we do every year. We do this at Sebring, we apply this to St. Pete for the first race. I think there's always a bit of a conscious and mindfulness on what races are coming up, whether it's simulation or directions we've learnt throughout the year.

As Josef brought up early, it's so compact now on race weekends with one practice session. There's so much to get through, sometimes you can't get through. A lot of times you hope you roll off in a good situation.

Q. Josef, you feel the same?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I agree. It's hard to know until you actually really get to the weekend. We were in the same position back in March where we'd all tested, we'd all been on the tire that we were going to run on the weekend. But it's not a true street course track condition that you're testing on. You don't know how it's going to apply to each specific street course that you go to.

I guess I could say I felt like our street course car took a massive step in 2019. We were all pretty happy, I know I was very happy with our street course package in 2019. Tried to carry that through with the Aeroscreen, modify it a bit for the differences.

I don't think it's changed our outlook. Running this whole year with the Aeroscreen, running a lot of road courses, I don't think it's changed our outlook on what we want to do going into St. Pete. I think our plan, what we had, is a lot of what we're probably going to stick to.

The good news is we had already done a ton of work. We were ready to go run St. Pete. Now we're just going to try to apply that.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks to Josef and Scott for joining us today.
[ht: FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports]

Will Power P1 with the Astor Cup in the background - Harvest Grand Prix Race 2 - Saturday, Oct 3, 2020 -- Image Credit: James Black via NICS (2020)

Of course, there are other stories to watch heading into the season finale on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida.

Here are five non-championship things to watch for this weekend.

Power & Glory

When it comes to the streets of St. Petersburg, no team is better than Team Penske.

The team has nine wins and nine poles at the 1.8-mile temporary street course and boasts one of the circuit’s most successful drivers – Will Power, who has two wins and eight of the poles in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.

Power is motivated to end his season on a high note and finish third in the championship ahead of young stars Colton Herta and Pato O’Ward.

“We’ve been out of contention for the championship for a few races now, so we are fully focused on just getting more race wins,” Power said. “St. Pete is such a technical street course, so it can be really fun to race.”

Turn 1 is Poppin'

If you’re looking to overtake in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, the first turn of the 1.8-mile street circuit at St. Peterburg is one of the corners you’re looking forward to driving.

The corner, which turns right off the long and wide Albert Whitted Airport runway, leads into a tight section of downtown St. Petersburg streets. It has been the location of more than 500 on-track passes in the history of the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, but it’s also a place where attempts to pass have gone wrong and ended potential winning days.

“St. Pete has been recognized so well for the season opener for a long time, so it feels a little different when you realized that it will be our last race of the season,” said two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato. “Nevertheless, St. Pete has been one of the greatest tracks and we all love it, so I am very happy to go back there. Needless to say, but we are so much looking forward to this challenging street race. Yes, it will add an element of unpredictability as it’s the nature of the street course race, but that’s all good for the show.”

R is for Rookie (and Rinus)

Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay has all but locked up the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Rookie of the Year Award.

The 20-year-old Dutchman only needs to start the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg to claim the rookie title over Alex Palou of Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh and Oliver Askew of Arrow McLaren SP.

“It will be so nice to come back to St. Petersburg,” VeeKay said. “We are finally returning after being there earlier this year, but we were not able to race. Hopefully, I can secure my Rookie of the Year title; it will be a very nice achievement. I am really looking forward to the race. First street course race of the season as the last race, that's very cool.”

McLaughlin's Debut

Virgin Australia Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin will make his highly anticipated NTT INDYCAR SERIES debut at St. Petersburg as he weighs his options for the next stage of his racing career.

The New Zealand native, who wrapped up his third straight title for DJR Team Penske in the Australian touring car series, impressed in three preseason tests with Team Penske’s INDYCAR squad, including finishing in the top three at the series Open Test at Circuit of the Americas.

“I’m super pumped to finally get a crack at my first INDYCAR race,” McLaughlin said. “Feels like it’s been years since I was part of spring training, but due to COVID-19, we had to hold off. But hey, sometimes the best things are definitely worth the wait. It’s a dream come true to be running an INDYCAR race for Team Penske and Roger (Penske), especially coming off of such a successful Supercars season.

“I’ve been trying to get to know my team as well as possible virtually for a few months now, so it’s been great being able to see everyone in person and work with them. I spent some time last week running in the simulator as much as I could and spent some time at the race shop, as well, to prepare for this weekend. It was a quick turnaround from Bathurst since I flew to Charlotte immediately after, so I’ve definitely been moving at a fast but really exciting pace just to get to this weekend. The Shell V-Power Nitro+ Chevy team is such a talented group, so I feel like I’m going to be a quick study and learn a lot really fast.”

Ending the Year on a High

Of the seven drivers who won races in 2019, only Alexander Rossi hasn’t visited Victory Lane in 2020, meaning the Andretti Autosport driver will have to win at St. Petersburg to extend his streak of seasons with at least one win to five years.

Rossi has history on his side.

In his four previous starts at St. Petersburg, Rossi has an average finish of 7.75 and led laps in the last two races, where he finished third and fifth, respectively.

“I am so thankful that we get to have this event as our season finale, and hopefully we can continue our run of podiums to finish out the year,” said Rossi, who has finished on the podium in the last four consecutive races. “If all the stars align, I know we can get a win before it’s all said and done.”

... notes from The EDJE




TAGS: Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Chip Ganassi Racing, Team Penske, Race 14, NTT INDYCAR SERIES Finale, St. Pete, St. Petersburg, Florida, The EDJE

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Saint Petersburg INDY - Play By Play Via Tweet By Tweet



Saint Petersburg INDY - Play By Play Via Tweet By Tweet

On a beautiful West coast of Florida day, the 2009 IndyCar Series got under way. Watching the race on VERSUS and seeing commentary on Twitter provided a unique way to experience the beginning of one of the most longed for seasons in North American Motorsports in recent years.

Today held out a great hope for a grand showing for all of the teams to race with an amount of parity. Ever since the rushed merger last year, many fans that followed the ChampCar World Series and the IndyCar Series wondered if this would all turn out to be good for the sport of open wheel automobile racing?

With the race in the can, it can be said ... Yes!

Ok! So Penske Racing won another race, but the 100 laps that made up the race, and the practice and "Knock-Out" qualifying sessions that took place before today, paid many dividends to the fans from both cultures that have now become one.

The following "Tweets" were excerpted and edited from Twitter via TheEDJE account during the season-opening Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg:

Tweet: TheEDJE - Let's light this rocket - GO Justin! Go Graham! Leave a CCWS sophomore mark on this ICS season before going into our house at Long Beach GP!

Tweet: VisionRacing - Vision cars are on the grid. Crews are in their firesuits. Nice little breeze to stop them from melting on the spot.

Tweet: TheEDJE - Danica on a pre-race fluff piece on VERSUS - Good short interview! Followed by DP GoDaddy.com advert!

Tweet: VisionRacing - For the record, black firesuits are NEVER a good idea but it was short notice + all. Poor Vision 21 crew. They look good but are withering.

Tweet: FilipCleeren@VisionRacing I hope you supplied 'em with loads of black towels as well.

Tweet: VisionRacing - Vision drivers have um... Taken care of business (aka gone potty) and are now at their cars. TMI?

Yes! Definitely.

Tweet: MyNameIsIRL[blog update] LiveBlog: St Petersburg 2009

Tweet: TheEDJE - The Super Team - Target Chip Ganassi with two past ICS Championship and INDY 500 winners - Dixon and Franchitti

Tweet: TheEDJE - Transition Players - CCWS Sophomores - Rahal, Wilson, Power, Tagliani, Doornbos, Viso, and Moraes - Go out and change the paradigm!

Tweet: TheEDJE - GREEN! GREEN! GREEN! - The 2009 IndyCar Series season is underway! Cameras are great! Black and Red tires!!!

Tweet: TheEDJE - Five wide - Franchitti swoops to the lead! Gets passed by Justin Wilson. TK punts Rahal off of the track! Sonny's BBQ in the lead.

Tweet: NowPublic@TheEDJE we dig your motorsports coverage.

Tweet: MyNameIsIRL - Good grief. These are professionals, right?

Tweet: TheEDJE - Restart - Wilson looks strong - TK trying to make up ground after pitting to get a new nose. Rahal doing the same.

Tweet: IndyCarPR - Report from pit lane: #24 Conway has gone behind the wall to repair damaged suspension.

Tweet: TheEDJE - Dale Coyne's Dallara driven by Justin Wilson is doing very well against Franchitti's Target car.

Tweet: IndyCarPR - Lap 15 update: #19 Wilson has led every lap so far. He led 18 laps here a year ago.

Tweet: TheEDJE - First 12 to 13 cars are running close - Top Five - Wilson, Franchitti, Briscoe, Power, and Manning on LAP 20

Tweet: TheEDJE - AGR's Hideki Mutoh is first in on pits to change from Reds to Blacks on tires - Viso in because the Reds were a problem.

Tweet: VisionRacing - Ed told by engineer Jeff Britton that they will opt for primary black Firestone on next stint instead of Reds as originally planned.

Tweet: IndyCarNation - At lap 25, Justin Wilson leads Darion Franchitti. Pole sitter Graham Rahal has fallen back to 15th due to an early incident.

Tweet: TheEDJE - Justin Wilson on Reds for first stint hoping to get 30 laps. Dario Franchitti on Blacks with Wilson leading by 1.2 seconds. LAP 26

Tweet: FastMachines - It is so nice to have good pit reporters this year for Indy Car. #indycar on VERSUS

Tweet: VisionRacing - 10 laps to pit for #20 menards car. Mutoh behind but Ed is running same lap times as him.

Tweet: UpdateF1 - 25/100 laps completed: Wilson leads Franchitti. Pole man Graham Rahal in 15th after first turn incident with Kanaan. Conway out.

Tweet: TheEDJE - Rahal is waiting to punt TK ... or at least pass the AGR driver. LAP 29

Tweet: VisionRacing - RHR complaining he doesn't have any straight line speed.

Tweet: IndyCarPR - update: Full Course yellow for contact in Turn 12 between #7 Patrick and #2 Matos. #5 Moraes had the incident in Turn 4.

Tweet: VisionRacing - Before pits open Ed will be in 14th place in 20 Menards car after all the incidents. Will take on black tires.

Tweet: FastMachines - Tagliani tangled with Meira & has a flat. Matos just took out Danica in a big crash. Moraes out too. #indycar craziness on VERSUS

Tweet: TheEDJE - Patrick pinches down on Raphael Matos. Tagliani gets tagged - flat tire. Briscoe in and out of the pits. YELLOW Flag - Briscoe takes lead.

Tweet: VisionRacing - RHR took on Red Firestone tires on his stop just as the caution flew.

Tweet: IndyCarPR - Leaders pit under caution. #9 Dixon has terrible stop after crew can't get fuel hose to the car.

Tweet: VisionRacing - RHR being told to save as much fuel as possible so Vision can shoot for a Top-5.

Tweet: IndyCarPR - Update on pit road: #6 Power overshot his pit stall, forcing the issue with #9 Dixon.

Tweet: VisionRacing - RHR up to P4 as he was pitted legally just as yellow waved. Great timing for 21 Vision team.

Tweet: VisionRacing - Ed finds himself in lucky P13. Has understear through turns 1, 2+5.

Tweet: TheEDJE - Restart on Lap 39 - Briscoe leads the field, Doornbos and Franchitti are getting into it!

Tweet: VisionRacing - Wilson got past RHR. RHR now in 5th

Tweet: FastMachines - Indy Car: Briscoe Wheldon Viso RHR Wilson on lap 42. Wilson is looking FAST! #indycar on VERSUS

Tweet: MyNameIsIRL - Wheldon in 2nd. On a street course. Who saw this coming?

Tweet: TheEDJE - Top five on LAP43 - Briscoe, Weldon, Viso, Wilson and Ryan Hunter-Reay!

Tweet: TheEDJE - LAP 50 - Near halfway, top cars are running smoothly and in order nose to tail. Franchitti in 6th, Rahal in 7th.

Tweet: TheEDJE - Wilson pounces on Viso after Viso locks up brakes.

Tweet: IndyCarPR - Lap 52: #19 Wilson passes #13 Viso for third place in Turns 2 and 3.

Tweet: FilipCleeren - Stanton "moving chicane" Barrett finally out. Just like his illustrious predecessor Roth, he's doing a great job influencing race results.

Tweet: TheEDJE - Full Course Caution: Stanton Barrett off. This'll tighten things up a bit. Pits are open. Viso takes to the pits.

Tweet: VisionRacing - Vision team is staying out during this caution. 1 to go at the line.

Tweet: TheEDJE - Restart - LAP 57 - Wilson looks racy against Weldon who is in second, led by Briscoe.

Tweet: MyNameIsIRL - Congrats to Stanton Barrett for not taking anyone out today. He was the lone GT 2 entry.

Tweet: TheEDJE@MyNameIsIRL - NICE!

Tweet: FuriousWedge - I'm really wondering what Wilson would have for Briscoe if he could get around Wheldon who seems to be just quick and wide enough to stay P2

Tweet: TheEDJE@FuriousWedge I think that the Dale Coyne Dallara and Wilson have the Hot Sauce!

Tweet: FilipCleeren@MyNameIsIRL Same goes for Manning. Wheldon's doing great as well considering his record on road courses.

Tweet: VisionRacing - Teams coming in for their finals stops.

Tweet: VisionRacing - 4 laps until No.20 Menards car pits. Heavy traffic in pits.

Tweet: TheEDJE - LAP 67 - Viso, Power, in pits and taking on Reds - Briscoe and Weldon in - Scuff Blacks.

Tweet: VisionRacing - No.21 Engineer Neil Fife to RHR : " It's all yours from here Buddy"

Tweet: FastMachines - Last round of Indy Car pit stops already? Time flies when you are having fun. #indycar on VERSUS

Tweet: TheEDJE - Justin Wilson stays out in order to build up a gap from the pitted leades. Franchitti, Rahal in - Dario takes Reds.

Tweet: VisionRacing - Ed running 3rd heading into pits. Will cycle back... but still. Nice to say that.

Tweet: TheEDJE - Wilson goes into pits and comes out AHEAD of Briscoe ... and on cold tires! A run to the end.

Tweet: FuriousWedge - What a great stop for Dale Coyne Racing! and Carpenter is in the tires we go yellow with parts scattered on track

Tweet: VisionRacing - Ed is in the tires. He's fine. Apologies to team. Engineer Jeff Britton assures him he did a good job. Made a lot of progress this weekend.

Tweet: VisionRacing - RHR asked team if he should be saving fuel under yellow. Team says no. We are good to go.

Tweet: FastMachines - What a thrill it would be if Justin Wilson could give Coyne his first win in the big cars!! #indycar on VERSUS

Tweet: TheEDJE - Franchitti loses a couple of spots! Justin Wilson shows why he was the class of the CCWS Transition Players.

Tweet: TheEDJE - Weldon gets booted to sixth - Reds vs. Blacks - Dixon into the tires - YELLOW Flag.

Tweet: TheEDJE - Mutoh pinches Dixon and breaks the left side A-Arm struts.

Tweet: FastMachines - Dixon hit the wall pretty hard and is out of the Indy Car race. A tangle with Mutoh didn't end well. A tough weekend for Scott. #indycar

Tweet: IndyCarPR - Lap 81: Full Course Caution for #9 Dixon who hit the tire barrier in Turn 3 after making contact with Mutoh in Turn 1.

Tweet: VisionRacing - RHR is in third spot and does not need to pit again. Lots of happy people in 21 Vision pits no matter how he finishes.

Tweet: TheEDJE - Sixteen laps to go and Dale Coyne (and all the former CCIC fans) are feeling the pressure - can Justin Wilson do it?

Tweet: TheEDJE - Penske and Briscoe pass Wilson in turn one on restart - many other drivers pile up after the corner - 6th caution.

Tweet: IndyCarPR - Full Course YELLOW. Turn 3 for multicar incident. Cars invilved are No. 4 Wheldon, #27 Mutoh, #06 Doornbos and #26 Andretti.

Tweet: VisionRacing - Before it went full course RHR took 2nd place! Seriously.

Tweet: MyNameIsIRL - The storyline may have just shifted from Dale Coyne to Tony George winning his first IRL race. Wow.

Tweet: FastMachines - Doornbos made a bonehead move on Wheldon, took him out. 12 to go, under FC yellow. #indycar on VERSUS

Tweet: TheEDJE@VisionRacing - RHR - Great grab of a driver for Vision!!!

Tweet: FuriousWedge - The best part about VERSUS; 10 minutes to 5pm yet not a single bit of talk about a timed race : )

Tweet: IndyCarNation - If you are watching Race Control...SORRY!!! Good news is that it got better, bad news is that there are a TON of things to do.

Tweet: MyNameIsIRL@TheEDJE Agreed, a great race so far. I just hope we have a little passing here at the end.

Tweet: TheEDJE@MyNameIsIRL Boy, who would have thought of the changes in this first race. Great first race so far - its not over!

Tweet: VisionRacing - RHR challenging Ryan Briscoe for the lead!! How many friggin' laps to go???

Tweet: TheEDJE - RHR pushing, pushing, pushing and making the Penske Dallara of Briscoe a nosecone logo!

Tweet: VisionRacing - 5 laps to go. Vision to RHR: "Nice job. No pressure. No pressure."

Tweet: TheEDJE - RHR pushing, pushing, pushing and making the Penske Dallara of Briscoe a nosecone logo!

Tweet: VisionRacing - Local yellow turn 10. Trying to not go full yellow.

Tweet: VisionRacing - Going green... And 2 laps to go.

Tweet: TheEDJE - One lap to go and it is nose to tail for the first 7 cars!

Tweet: TheEDJE - Briscoe WINS, RHR with his new Vision ride second, and a Transition Player on the podium with Justin Wilson for Dale Coyne! WOW!

Tweet: FuriousWedge - That would be 9 different teams in the top 10; Congrats to Briscoe and also Hunter-Reay, Wilson.. and Stanton Barrett finishes 12th!

Tweet: MyNameIsIRL - Congrats to Briscoe, even though he totally spolied two fantastic storylines. No hard feelings though.

Tweet: VisionRacing - RHR out of car congratulated by TG and ED. About to do VERSUS interview. Stay tuned!!

Tweet: VisionRacing - Ryan: "That was a really physical race. Can I have some more water. I almost had Ryan Briscoe. I wanted to try. Unreal day."

Tweet: FilipCleeren - congrats to Briscoe, RHR and Wilson, three excellent performances.

Tweet: TheEDJE - Dale Coyne stated that this race shows that Sonny's BBQ has a faster drive-thru than McDonald's





HOW THEY FARED (** denotes Transition Player merged from CCWS):

Pos  Driver            Team                 Gap
1. Ryan Briscoe Penske
2. Ryan Hunter-Reay Vision + 0.4619s
3. Justin Wilson** Dale Coyne + 0.9490s
4. Dario Franchitti Ganassi + 1.5230s
5. Tony Kanaan Andretti Green + 2.3214s
6. Will Power** Penske + 3.4622s
7. Graham Rahal** Newman/Haas/Lanigan + 4.0672s
8. Dan Wheldon Panther + 4.7283s
9. Vitor Meira Foyt + 5.9559s
10. Alex Tagliani** Conquest + 1 lap
11. Robert Doornbos** Newman/Haas/Lanigan + 4 laps
12. Stanton Barrett 3G + 4 laps

Retirements:

Driver Team Laps
Marco Andretti Andretti Green 94
Dan Wheldon Panther 86
Hideki Mutoh Andretti Green 86
Scott Dixon Ganassi 80
EJ Viso** HVM 75
Ed Carpenter Vision 71
Danica Patrick Andretti Green 31
Raphael Matos Luczo Dragon 31
Mario Moraes** KV 31
Mike Conway Dreyer & Reinbold 1
(ht: autosport.com)

Tweet: TheEDJE - IndyCarPR, MyNameIsIRL, VisionRacing, FilipCleeren, FastMachines, and FuriousWedge - Thanks for sharing! I'll be at the track in Long Beach.

... notes from The EDJE

Saturday, April 5, 2008

IRL Knockout Qualifying – The Firestone Fast Six

No. 8 Will Power of KV Racing Technology on the course at St. Petersburg. Will posted the fastest qualifying time at 62.1355 (nearly one-half a second faster than the pole sitter Tony Kanaan) but because the mark was set in Round 2 where the fastest twelve cars race to advance to The Firestone Fast Six. Image Credit: Jim Haines - indycar.com

IRL Knockout Qualifying – The Firestone Fast Six

This format is justly named. The format lent an interest to the affair all-of-it’s-own and it IS a knockout.

The way it is structured is that three rounds with four sessions for timed qualifying are held for all of the qualified entrants (in this case at Saint Petersburg – 26 cars). Two groups of 13 cars each are randomly drawn to compete in Round 1, with both groups having 20 minutes to post their best lap times.

The top six cars from each group advanced to Round 2, where they received 15 minutes on the circuit to post their fastest times.

The top six cars from that group of 12 advanced to the Firestone Fast Six and the six cars start fresh whereas times do not carry over from one round to another.

Three drivers from each of the two groups that were randomly drawn for the first round of qualifications advanced to the "Firestone Fast Six".

The dramatic qualifying format debuted on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn temporary street circuit at Saint Petersburg, Florida will carry over to all other Indianapolis Racing League road/street events this season.

The qualifying sessions had no accidents and all went off with several notable surprises along the way.

Tony Kanaan talks with AGR team about his pole setting pace in The Firestone Fast Six qualifying showdown. Kanaan will line up in the first row alongside Will Power in St. Petersburg, Florida. Image Credit: Chris Jones - indycar.com

This excerpted from IndyCar.com –

Round 1 (20-minute session)

Group 1 advancing
No. 8 Will Power (1:02.7752; 103.422 mph); No. 11 Tony Kanaan; No. 06 Graham Rahal; No. 34 Franck Perera; No. 14 Darren Manning; No. 17 Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Notables: Perera's final lap (13th) bumped Hideki Mutoh from advancing. … Danica Patrick finished nine in the group. … Power's final lap bumped Kanaan from the top spot in the group. … Mutoh was atop the lap time chart halfway through the 20-minute session. … One of the three Andretti Green Racing cars (Kanaan) advanced.

Group 2 advancing
No. 02 Justin Wilson (1:02.7341; 103.293 mph); No. 6 Ryan Briscoe; No. 26 Marco Andretti; No. 3 Helio Castroneves; No. 5 Oriol Servia; No. 10 Dan Wheldon.

Notables: Wilson moved to the top on his 12th of 13 laps. Earlier in the session he came to a stop in Turn 8. … Wilson wasn't in the top six at the halfway point of the 20-minute session. … Scott Dixon, who has been the race runner-up the past two years, did not advance (seventh). … Both Team Penske cars (Briscoe, Castroneves) advanced.

Round 2 – Top Twelve From Groups 1 & 2 (15-minute session)

Six cars advance - "Firestone Fast Six"
No. 8 Will Power (1:02.1355; 104.288 -
fastest time recorded in all of the qualifying sessions ); No. 11 Tony Kanaan; No. 6 Ryan Briscoe; No. 02 Justin Wilson; No. 17 Ryan Hunter-Reay; No. 3 Helio Castroneves.

Notables: Castroneves jumped from 10th on the time chart to making the final round in the final minute. … Both Target Chip Ganassi Racing cars did not advance; Wheldon was eighth in Round 2. … Marco Andretti was 12th in the session.
Reference Here>>

Round 3 – The Firestone Fast Six (10-minute session)

Firestone Fast Six fill out the top six positions in the starting grid.

Final Grid For The Grand Prix of St. Petersburg 2008 (round #2 of the IRL season):

1 11 Kanaan, Tony D/H/F 01:02.5322 103.627 Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six
2 8 Power, Will D/H/F 01:02.6096 103.499 Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six
3 02 Wilson, Justin D/H/F 01:02.6426 103.444 Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six

4 3 Castroneves, Helio D/H/F 01:02.6462 103.438 Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six
5 6 Briscoe, Ryan D/H/F 01:02.7071 103.338 Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six
6 17 Hunter-Reay, Ryan D/H/F 01:03.0077 102.845 Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six
7 5 Servia, Oriol D/H/F 01:02.7427 103.279 Elimination Round 2 / Top 12
8 10 Wheldon, Dan D/H/F 01:02.7964 103.191 Elimination Round 2 / Top 12
9 06 Rahal, Graham D/H/F 01:02.8122 103.165 Elimination Round 2 / Top 12
10 34 Perera, Franck D/H/F 01:02.8749 103.062 Elimination Round 2 / Top 12
11 14 Manning, Darren D/H/F 01:03.0136 102.835 Elimination Round 2 / Top 12
12 26 Andretti, Marco D/H/F 01:03.2443 102.460 Elimination Round 2 / Top 12
13 9 Dixon, Scott D/H/F 01:03.2365 102.472 Elimination Round 1 / Group 2
14 27 Mutoh, Hideki D/H/F 01:03.2757 102.409 Elimination Round 1 Group 1
15 33 Viso, Ernesto D/H/F 01:03.3067 102.359 Elimination Round 1 / Group 2
16 15 Rice, Buddy D/H/F 01:03.3591 102.274 Elimination Round 1 / Group 2
17 4 Meira, Vitor D/H/F 01:03.4480 102.131 Elimination Round 1 / Group 2
18 36 Bernoldi, Enrique D/H/F 01:03.4568 102.117 Elimination Round 1 Group 1
19 7 Patrick, Danica D/H/F 01:03.5766 101.924 Elimination Round 1 Group 1
20 24 Howard, Jay D/H/F 01:03.7447 101.656 Elimination Round 1 / Group 2
21 20 Carpenter, Ed D/H/F 01:03.8007 101.566 Elimination Round 1 Group 1
22 19 Moraes, Mario D/H/F 01:04.1590 100.999 Elimination Round 1 Group 1
23 23 Bell, Townsend D/H/F 01:04.3880 100.640 Elimination Round 1 Group 1
24 2 Foyt IV, AJ D/H/F 01:04.4996 100.466 Elimination Round 1 / Group 2
25 25 Roth, Marty D/H/F 01:07.7041 95.711 Elimination Round 1 Group 1
26 18 Junqueira, Bruno D/H/F 01:09.3851 93.392 Elimination Round 1 / Group 2

Can anyone one believe that HALF of the top ten positions on the grid are occupied by drivers and teams that have transitioned from the ChampCar World Series (CCWS T-Teams in bold)?

Many of the experts were fond of saying that “it will take about six to ten races” for the T-Teams to become competitive, tell that to Will Power who posted the fastest time on the track at 62.1355 seconds. This time was about one-half a second faster than the eventual Pole Position speed of Tony Kanaan at 62.5322 seconds.

How about a P2 and a P3 starting position for Will Power and Justin Wilson respectively – Great stuff ... and Will Power will have no wing to stare at when he takes the checkered flag to start the race.

Good On! the CCWS T-Teams, if round two of 2008 at Saint Petersburg, Florida is any indication of the success that comes from a unified series, this will be an exciting year.

The second round race can be seen on ESPN starting at 11:30 am PT, Sunday, April 6, 2008.

Too bad we can't have all of these guys to race on Shoreline Drive at Long Beach THIS year!

... notes from The EDJE